The ballast material used within keels, skegs or other fixed ballast containers, and the ballast containers themselves, have hitherto been single purpose mechanisms, their function being to provide stability.
The choice of ballast material used has been based primarily on three variables; the volume to weight ratio of the material, the availability of the ballast material, and the cost of the material.
The use of lead, iron, cement and other weighty material as ballast for ships requiring fixed ballast to enhance stability has been common for serval years.
The inventor has found that certain alloys, specifically ferrous titanium and other metal hydrides provide a suitable alternative ballast material, based on the volume to weight ratio required for numerous ship designs.
It is also known that a certain kind of metal or alloy exothermically occludes hydrogen to form a metal hydride, and the metal hydride endothermically releases hydrogen in a reversible manner.
Many such metal hydrides have been known and examples include lanthanum nickel hydride (LaNi5H[x]), calcium nickel hydride (CaNi5H[H]), misch metal nickel hydride (M[m]Ni5H[x]), iron titanium hydride (FeTiH[x]), and magnesium nickel hydride (Mg2NiH[x]).
Further it has been shown that different metal hydrides possess different absorption/desorption qualities.(Source: R. L. Cohen, "Intermatallics for Hydrogen Storage", Science. Dec. 1981, p.1082). For example it has been found that at atmospheric pressure, magnesium hydride holds more hydrogen per unit weight than ferrous titanium hydride but must be heated to higher temperatures, 204 degrees C., as opposed to 20 degrees C., to release its stored hydrogen.
It has also been shown that the different absorption/desorption, exothermal/endothermal properties of various metal hydrides may be employed, to store and release hydrogen fuel, to provide heat exchange, and to compress gases.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,048 to Iwaki et a1.(1991) discloses a hydrogen fuel storage tank for the hydrogen engine system of a forklift.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,402,187 to Golben (1982) discloses a hydrogen compressor.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,500 to Nishizaki (1981) discloses a metal hydride heat pump.
All of the above mechanisms which employ the exothermal/endothermal and/or the differences in absorption/desorption properties of metal hydrides to perform the tasks stated, are designed to minimize the amount of metal hydride necessary to accomplish those tasks so that they may decrease the weight of the units employed.
This practise generally results in the use of costly and/or realitively less stable alloys and of expensive manufacturing processes.
Further, the minimizing of weight works at cross purposes to the primary function of the present invention i.e. to enhance the stability of a ship by providing a massive inertial counter-force to external forces acting on the ship.
The inventor has found that by employing the realativly large quantities of metal hydrides necessary to stabilize most ships, the stated tasks may be accomplished with more stable and less costly metal hydrides.
Further, the inventor has found that through the use of certain metal hydrides as ballast material, arranged in the ships fixed ballast container in a manner which sujects the ballast material to various heat sources, the fixed ballast container can perform its primary function as a means to stabilize a ship as well as numerous secondary functions.